The public just sees the pint glasses, beer festivals and flowing suds. What they usually don’t see is the months of planning, logistics, sponsorship coordination, brewery communication and operational problem-solving happening behind the scenes. In this edition the BREWER Podcast, Shawnee Adelson, Executive Director of the Colorado Brewers Guild, breaks down the real business side of running major statewide craft beer events like Collaboration Fest, Colorado Pint Day, Colorado Brewers Rendezvous and the Lake Dillon Beer Fest. Executive Editor Jon Sicotte talks with her about what it actually takes to coordinate hundreds of breweries, how festival ROI is changing for breweries and sponsors, why collaboration beers have evolved over the last decade, and how guild events help shape public perception of Colorado craft beer. Shawnee also discusses membership value in 2026, the misconceptions breweries still have about state guilds, how the Guild balances tradition with innovation, and is there really such a thing as an “offseason” in event planning anymore?
